Salon.com > McCarton Ackerman

Baltimore prison guards indicted in massive drug conspiracy

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:22:00 +0000

Thirteen female corrections officers have been indicted for helping a national gang known as Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) run a drug-trafficking and money-laundering scheme from behind bars. The prison guards were among 25 defendants, including inmates and outside suppliers, charged with racketeering and drug conspiracy, with each of them facing a maximum sentence of 20 years for the charges. Prosecutors accused the 13 women of essentially handing over control of the jail to the gang, helping them conduct their business by smuggling cellphones, prescription drugs and other contraband in their clothing and hair. Four of the officers even became pregnant by one inmate, with two of them also getting tattoos of his first name. Affadavits for search warrants at the homes of the prison guards report that the inmates specifically looked for female officers they perceived to have "low self-esteem." “The inmates literally took over ‘the asylum,’ and the detention centers became safe havens for BGF,” says FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt. Court documents show that one-gram bags of marijuana sold behind bars for $50, a profit of about $1,000 per ounce, while Percocet pills went for triple their street value.

U.N. development chief slams War on Drugs

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 21:15:00 +0000

Helen Clark, the head of the United Nations Development Program, has publicly slammed global strategies to combat drugs, claiming there is increasing evidence that "the war on drugs" has failed. The former prime minister of New Zealand urged Latin American leaders to develop new policies to tackle drugs, which she says should be addressed as a public health problem rather than criminalized. "I've been a health minister in my past and there's no doubt that the health position would be to treat the issue of drugs as primarily a health and social issue rather than a criminalized issue," she told Reuters. "Once you criminalize, you put very big stakes around. Of course, our world has proceeded on the basis that criminalization is the approach. To deal with drugs as a one-dimensional, law-and-order issue is to miss the point." Although she did not directly comment on US involvement in the drug war, her words have been widely interpreted as a criticism of US drug policy, which she later denied. "She was speaking about the negative effects the drug trade has had on development in some Latin American countries in the context of the Human Development Report," said UNDP spokeswoman Christina LoNigro in a statement.

Will Chavez’s death improve drug war diplomacy?

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

  After the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, some are optimistic about the country improving cooperation with the US in the fight against drug trafficking. Despite the infamous photo of Chavez and President Barack Obama smiling and shaking hands at the 2009 Summit of the Americas, US officials say that relations with Venezuela are at a low point since each country rejected the others' ambassador in 2010. Last October, Obama also accused Venezuela of "failing to meet its obligation" on combatting drug trafficking. The nation has become a major drug hub since Chavez took power, and analysts believe as much as 25% of the cocaine that enters the US comes from Venezuela. The US Treasury Department has blacklisted seven current and former Venezuelan officials, including former Defense Minister Henry Rangel Silva, because of suspected ties to drug-dealing Colombian insurgents. And although several senior officials in the country say drug corruption is weakening the government, other high level officials are suspected of making millions off the trade. "People in very important positions in government are getting rich, so if change comes, it's probably going to be very, very gradual," says Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts: “I started drinking when I was 11″

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:04:00 +0000

When it comes to the giants of pro wrestling, Jake “The Snake” Roberts (real name Aurelian Smith, Jr.) is right up there. From 1986-1992, Roberts wrestled in stadiums throughout the world with the WWE, winning immense popularity for his intense character, his in-ring psychology and his ever-present pet python.

But all the while, this dark public persona was being outmatched by his true-life troubles outside of the ring. Roberts frequently used drugs and drank heavily throughout his wrestling career, which ultimately led to him being fired from the WWE during a 1997 comeback attempt. A highly unflattering portrayal followed in the 1999 wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat, in which he was reported to have smoked crack in a hotel room after a reunion with his estranged daughter. As he began wrestling on the independent circuit—the equivalent of baseball's minor leagues—his behavior became increasingly erratic, including instances of drunken breakdowns in the ring and exposing himself to the crowd.

US Navy to fight boozing

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:59:00 +0000

Drinking has long been a part of Navy culture, but excessive alcohol use by service members has become a health and safety concern. Officials announced yesterday that they will conduct random blood-alcohol tests on US sailors starting next month, as part of Navy Secretary Ray Mabus' 21st Century Sailor and Marine Initiative, an expansive program intended to improve the well-being of sailors and Marines. By May 24, the Navy expects to have hand-held alcohol detection devices available for nearly 2,000 commands. "Deterring irresponsible use of alcohol is essential to the readiness of our fleet and ensuring the health and safety of our service members and units," said Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces, in a statement.

Mexican traffickers grow pot in U.S. national forests

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:09:00 +0000

Mexico's drug traffickers are continuing to expand their marijuana operations, by stepping up cultivation of the plant in national forests across the US. According to a report by USA Today's Judy Keen, traffickers are increasingly planting illicit crops on public land, at the detriment of the natural habitat, while creating risks for hunters and other parkgoers. The practice has been documented as far back as the mid-1990s, but it has now spread to 67 national forests in 20 states. David Ferrell, the Forest Service's law enforcement and investigations director, says that undocumented immigrants tended 1,607 cultivation sites in national forests between 2005-2010. "It's a growing problem—literally," says Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. "They're finding that it's easier and easier...to grow within this country." Federal officials are now starting to crack down on the problem. Last August, Operation Mountain Sweep targeted public lands in seven Western states including California, eradicating 578,000 marijuana plants with a street value of $1 billion. Benjamin Wagner, the US attorney for the Eastern District of California, confirms that most of those arrested were "illegal aliens from Mexico or people here of Mexican extraction." The problem isn't confined to the green West coast: a raid this past August of Wisconsin's Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest resulted in the seizure of more than 8,000 marijuana plants and seven arrests, at least six of which were tied to Mexico. Mass seizures of marijuana plants in national forests have also been reported in Ohio and Michigan.

Video games are designed to get you hooked

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:06:00 +0000

Video games like Farmville and Words With Friends are specifically designed to get people hooked, with the industry even hiring psychiatric professionals to help make them more addictive. And the tactic seems to be working. Recent research shows that video games can be just as addictive as drugs, alcohol or gambling. "It's the same exact clinical symptoms: preoccupation, loss of control, inability to stop," says Dr. Timothy Fong, who runs a UCLA clinic for behavioral addiction. "They keep playing the game despite harmful consequences so, in my mind, absolutely, I believe it is the same disease as alcohol or drug addiction." While the stereotypical video game player is a nerdy teenager, Fong says that plenty of adults also find themselves unable to put down the controller. "The average age of our patients is about 40. We've seen housewives, doctors, lawyers," he says. One addicted gamer, DiAnn Edwards of Pennsylvania, says she plays Farmville for up to eight hours a day, spending up to $200 a month on the habit. "It just gets addicting," she says. "I'm 51 and what am I doing sitting here playing a Farmville game? I don't get it, but it actually drives me crazy."

Drinking while pregnant can lower baby’s IQ

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:05:00 +0000

Drinking in the third trimester of pregnancy—even just a glass or two of alcohol a week—may lower a baby's IQ by a few points, according to new research. The issue has been long debated by doctors, but a new study led by Ron Gray, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, suggests that light drinking does harm a baby's brain development. Researchers tested for slow metabolizing genes in thousands of pregnant women—some who abstained from alcohol during pregnancy, and others who drank the equivalent of a half pint to three pints of beer (or three small glasses of wine) a week. Eight years later, researchers examined the IQ's of 4,167 of these women's children; they found across the board that women who drank lightly or not at all during pregnancy gave birth to children with higher IQ's. "This is good evidence to implicate moderate drinking during pregnancy having an effect on childhood IQ at age 8," says Gray. "Some women are going to be genetically more vulnerable or resilient than others to the effects of alcohol on the fetus, but we don't know who those people are."

Colorado’s pot business poised for boom

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 00:15:00 +0000

Colorado and Washington are currently awaiting the federal response to their citizens' votes this week to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Meanwhile, Colorado's pre-existing, highly-regulated business structure for growing and selling (previously just medical) pot is set to go into overdrive. The reassuring fact that strict oversight of medical marijuana was already in place played a big role in the eventual success of Amendment 64; under current regulations, every step in the growing process is rigorously overseen and constantly filmed by video cameras monitored by the state’s Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division. No video blind spots are allowed, and truck shipments must detail the total weight of all marijuana products, in addition to the times of their arrival and departure. On top of that, every marijuana worker must be licensed. “The thing that Colorado really has going for it is that there is already a high level of comfort and familiarity with the state licensing, taxing and regulating the above-ground distribution of marijuana,” says Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “People had become accustomed to the notion that this can be a source of tax revenue, and that police can play a role in insuring effective regulation rather than just arresting anyone they could.”

U.S. addiction diagnoses up 70 percent

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 23:24:00 +0000

The number of drug and alcohol problems diagnosed by US doctors increased by 70% in the first decade of the 2000s, reveals a new study, just as painkiller abuse in the country reached an all-time high. The study, using data from two national surveys of doctors' visits, estimates that the number of addiction diagnoses jumped from 10.6 million between 2001 and 2003 to 18 million between 2007 and 2009. In addition, the number of visits involving a diagnosis of opioid painkiller abuse multiplied nearly sixfold in that time frame: from 772,000 to 4.4 million. "This finding is consistent with trends in substance use disorder-related utilization at the nation's community health centers and emergency departments and, sadly, use of its morgues," write the study's authors in the Archives of Internal Medicine. According to the research team led by Dr. Joseph W. Frank, from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, 22.5 million people in the US are currently dependent on alcohol or drugs.

Miss America’s eating disorder

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Kirsten Haglund was thrust into the spotlight when she won the 2008 Miss America crown in front of more than 19 million viewers. But before she ever became an American icon, from the ages of 12 through 15, the Michigan native fought an extreme battle with anorexia. So determined was she to fit the dancer frame ideal that she lost 30 pounds as a pre-teen by subsisting on a diet of less than 900 calories per day.

When her parents forced her into a rehab facility, Haglund began learning the tools to overcome her anorexia and eventually recovered enough to begin competing in pageants. Then, when she won the Miss America crown, she used her platform to educate people on eating disorders and body image issues, eventually starting her own foundation. These days, she is a senior at Emory University in Atlanta and a frequent keynote speaker on the subject of eating disorders. In her exclusive interview with The Fix, Haglund speaks about the dance coaches who expressed concern for her, her brief attempt at pursuing an entertainment career post-Miss America and why she credits beauty pageants with helping her recover from her eating disorder.

Novelists fight Internet addiction

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:04:00 +0000

Internet addiction can be especially harmful for those who make a living through intense focus—such as novelists. A number of esteemed writers including Nick Hornby, Dave Eggers and Zadie Smith have come forward to admit they are powerless over the endless distractions of the Internet, and to name a new solution: two software programs called Freedom and Self Control. These are computer applications that can be downloaded and configured to increase productivity by completely blocking Internet access at specific times. Smith, whose new novel NW features a character addicted to online message boards, thanks these programs in the book's acknowledgements “for creating the time." Novelist Ned Beauman says he finds the web is "good in egalitarian terms that all that information is [available] for free, but the Internet is definitely pandering to our worst instincts.” To protect himself from its siren song, he utilizes an intricate method of restriction to block “virtually all newspaper and magazine websites as well as blogs and Twitter.”

Kids more medicated for ADHD

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:35:00 +0000

The number of prescriptions for ADHD drugs for children skyrocketed between 2002 and 2010, reveals a new study by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — but the total number of prescriptions for kids up to age 17 declined during the same period.

The relevant stats show a 7% drop in total prescriptions and a big increase of 46% in ADHD prescriptions—with the total number of ADHD diagnoses rising from 4.4 million to 5 million. Ritalin and Adderall account for the majority of the ADHD drugs prescribed, but newer meds like Vyvanse and Focalin are also being introduced. Contraceptive prescriptions also increased among adolescents by a massive 93% and there was a marked increase in medications prescribed for asthma. However, antibiotic prescriptions for kids declined by 14% and the numbers for antidepressants also fell. The trend for adults seems different; they experienced a 22% total increase in the amount of medications prescribed. However, the study doesn't provide an analysis for these results and the authors note that their research doesn't track whether the drugs are actually used — only that they're prescribed.